2013 Archives

SMU grad creates program to find cheap textbooks

Excerpt

The following is from the July 18, 2013, edition of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

July 19, 2013

By Diane Smith

COLLEYVILLE — Christian Genco paid about $1,200 for college textbooks one semester and decided he’d had enough.

“It was ridiculous,” said Genco, 21.

The next semester, Genco decided to shop online and after a couple of days of searching, he found books for between $800 and $900.

Genco liked the fact that the books were cheaper online, but was dismayed that it took two days to find the best deals.

Genco, then a student at SMU, went to work. Using computer coding and information already available on the Internet, he created a program that automatically searched for the lowest priced textbooks he needed.

“I did that for myself,” he said.

Genco said he introduced the program to his friends at SMU, who loved it. After graduating in May, he continued to fine tune the program, which has evolved into a free service for college students called textbooksplease.com.

Read the full story.

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